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The interesting thing about this graph is that ALL the options seem to include out-of-pocket-caps on annual health care expenses. And that’s new to me — I haven’t seen such caps mentioned in any summary (and I’ve looked for ’em) More information on THAT would be gratefully appreciated!
Kids Recant Abuse Claims After Dad Jailed 20 Years
Tetz, 30, said she doesn’t remember what she told Krause back in 1985, but she remembers Krause buying her ice cream. She said that when she finally read the police reports she was “absolutely sure” the abuse never happened.
“I would have remembered something that graphic, that violent,” Tetz said.
Krugman asks, Is America on its way to becoming a boiled frog?
I started thinking about boiled frogs recently as I watched the depressing state of debate over both economic and environmental policy. These are both areas in which there is a substantial lag before policy actions have their full effect — a year or more in the case of the economy, decades in the case of the planet — yet in which it’s very hard to get people to do what it takes to head off a catastrophe foretold.
And right now, both the economic and the environmental frogs are sitting still while the water gets hotter.
Why America is flunking science
As its Web site attests, CERN has been forced to develop some pretty sophisticated P.R. tools in recent years. Before “Angels & Demons” came out, the institution had to counter widespread but baseless public concerns that its Large Hadron Collider — the source of antimatter in the film — might create black holes that would grow to devour Earth and kill us all. CERN researchers received death threats; lawsuits were filed to stop the collider’s operation. (Granted, the scientists scored a considerable hit when their hilarious YouTube video, the “Large Hadron Rap,” went viral and garnered more than 5 million views.)
The experience of CERN is, more broadly, the experience of science in our culture today. It is simultaneously admired and yet viewed as dangerously powerful and slightly malevolent — an uneasiness that comes across repeatedly in Hollywood depictions.
BostonBoomer helped out today with this list:
Mother of young girl ogled by Obama and Sarkozy is “mad as hell.”
. . . Patriarch Eduardo Tavares, after finally getting around to seeing the famous photo of his daughter from behind, quickly changed his tune from proud papa to furious father.
“My daughter is not a model and she is not a sex symbol,” he told The Post. “That photograph has ruined my whole family.”
Lawmakers reject tax to pay for health care
Republican Senator Judd Gregg said finishing a healthcare bill by Congress’ August recess was “highly unlikely” because the Senate Finance Committee had not yet completed a draft. Senator John Kyl, the Republican whip, said there was “no chance” it would be done before the break.
Kim Jong Il has pancreatic cancer.
North Korea has been raising tension in Asia through missile launches and a nuclear test on May 25 which was met by U.N. sanctions aimed at cutting off it arms trade, one of its few sources of hard cash.
South Korean officials said this military grandstanding was aimed at helping Kim build internal support as he prepares for succession, with his youngest son seen as the likely heir.
North Korea in the post-Kim era
The longer Kim lives and remains in reasonable health, the greater the chance of a smooth transition of power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, 25. If Jong-un has 15 or 20 years to cement his position, he may be able to continue the Kim dynasty.
Kim junior is also believed to have the backing of Jang Song-thaek, effectively the country’s number 2 leader. Kim Jong-il in April promoted Jang, his 63-year-old brother-in-law, to the powerful National Defense Commission, which many analysts saw as an attempt to establish a mechanism for the transfer of power, with Jang as kingmaker.
Under this scenario, financial market players would watch events in North Korea with interest but not trade dramatically either way. Global powers would seek to ascertain the intentions of the new leadership as it took shape. North Korean policy toward the outside world may not alter much.
Heather Robinson: the savaging of sarah palin
Instead, we got ridiculing of Mrs. Palin’s appearance, of her decades-old participation in a beauty pageant, and even of her children, which was especially cruel. Self-proclaimed “feminists” made a blood sport of hating and dehumanizing her. Personally, I do not agree with all of Governor Palin’s views, such as her absolutist pro-life position. But such vicious hatred, on the part of self-described feminists, was an embarrassment.
Obama orders review of Taliban slayings.
“The indications that this had not been properly investigated just recently was brought to my attention,” Obama told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview during the president’s visit to Ghana. The full interview will air 10 p.m. Monday.
“So what I’ve asked my national security team to do is to collect the facts for me that are known, and we’ll probably make a decision in terms of how to approach it once we have all of the facts gathered up,” Obama said.
I don’t know what “review” means. It sounds weaker than an investigation. But this is a reversal.
Newsweek: Sotomayor is a shoo-in
If she keeps her cool and her answers earnestly and learnedly vague, she is a shoo-in—and perhaps 10 of 40 Republicans will vote for her.
Young people of color are rising up against military recruiters
More than just looking at Hoang and her peers, military recruiters also have unprecedented access to students and youth, particularly in poor neighborhoods. “There are generally more army recruiters on campus than college counselors,” explains Elmer Roldan, fundraising director at Community Coalition (CC) in South Central Los Angeles, “and a more aggressive strategy to militarize them than to prepare them for college.” He also points out that it is young women, and the best and brightest students, that recruiters target.
This post by Marie Coco is a few days old, but it’s really good:
The Unemployed Will Roar
But if anyone’s looking for some clear voices, there are 650,000 of them just waiting to be heard. That is roughly the number of long-term unemployed who will begin losing their jobless benefits in September, according to the National Employment Law Project.
Ooooh, here’s one for conspiracy enthusiasts:
British government under pressure: 13 doctors demand inquest into Dr David Kelly’s death
Tony Blair sensitive to the accusation that he has ‘blood on his hands’
But now a team of 13 specialist doctors has compiled a detailed medical dossier that rejects the Hutton conclusion on the grounds that a cut to the ulnar artery, which is small and difficult to access, could not have caused death.
La Toya Jackson says Michael was murdered.
“I believe Michael was murdered, I felt that from the start,” a tearful La Toya declared to the paper. “Not just one person was involved, rather it was a conspiracy of people.”
. . . .
Meanwhile, another British paper is reporting that Debbie Rowe, the biological mother of Michael Jackson’s elder two children, has reached a secret custody agreement with the late icon’s mother — to keep his father away from the kids.
According to the U.K.’s Daily Mirror, lawyers for the two women met secretly. The outcome: Debbie agreed to drop her bid for custody — and receive visitation rights — if Joe Jackson, who Michael claimed had abused him, was not part of their lives.
Police accuse wife of former boxing champ of murdering him
The former junior welterweight champion was apparently strangled with the strap of a purse, which was found at the scene with blood stains, said Milena Saraiva, a spokeswoman for the Pernambuco state civil police.
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The Confluence 